Abandoned Puppets
by Psychopathic Prodigy
Summary: No matter how you looked at it love was a sick, sick thing. It left it's victims defenseless and broken beyond repair, tossed aside like abandoned puppets.
1. Chapter 1

He watched her. Watched her blonde, seemingly soft hair sway with her body as she was twirled in her midnight blue dress. Watched the way the light in the room gave her tattoo an angelic glow. Watched the way her hard, brown, eyes deliberately avoided colliding with his dark, lifeless green. It wasn't fair he thought to himself, to fall in love but then have it snatched away from your grasp, it wasn't fair he thought that everyone else could still laugh and smile despite the cruelty of the world, no it wasn't fair at all. He can still picture everyone's shocked expressions perfectly. Their wide eyes, filled with disbelief and disgust, he had hated them. He can still hear her screams as the alchemists dragged her away, he had searched everywhere for her, asked everyone, begged even but if anyone knew where Sydney Sage had been taken they hadn't told him. Of course they wouldn't be satisfied with just torturing her, he had to suffer too. So his father promptly decided that he, Adrian Ivashkov would be betrothed, to any royal moroi girl. Even Lissa couldn't do anything to persuade him. Jill agreed to it, only to save Adrian from being married to any of the other, judgmental moroi, after all she herself knew what it was like to have the the one you love taken away. He looked at her, placed firmly in his arms as they slowly swayed to the music, both their minds occupied with different people. Despite everything she was the one he wanted to save the most if he couldn't have his chance at freedom than he would everything in his power to make sure she gets to see Castile. He looked at the guy that held his blonde alchemist and felt like setting fire to everyone in the room. It was none other than Keith Darnell. He noticed her stiff body language and her reserved expression, it was clear to anyone that she felt uncomfortable. He wanted to save her, embrace her, run away, but no it was too late for that.

"They're engaged" Jill whispered.

He looked at her, her eyes were locked on the girl that occupied his thoughts everyday.

"It was against her will of course, her family must have decided it for her." Jill said quickly afterwords. He gave a helpless shrug.

"I know"

He had never expected on finding her here but now it seemed foolish that he hadn't. After all why wouldn't the Alchemists be invited to the queen's 20th birthday? Any public event Lissa held was a potential assassination opportunity. He had excused himself out of the ballroom and into the front court yard and sat down on the hard, wooden bench. He sat perfectly still for what seemed to be a hundred years, maybe it had been, the world could have been on fire and he wold have oblivious to it all. He just sat there, he wasn't even thinking, it was a montage of the memories, memories that should have been long forgotten. Her laugh when she saw the Dracula golf course, her irritated voice whenever he had done something ridiculous, her beaten self after the fight with Lee, Her dirty, smudged face when she fixed his new car that he somehow broke, her teary eyes when he kissed her and she realised that they weren't possible, the way her arms wrapped themselves around his neck on their last day at Amberwood. It was too much, all of it. He had demanded to see her when she got released from the re-education center. They were oddly alright with it, he had wondered why at the time but now he understood their reasoning perfectly. She hadn't recognized him. She hadn't recognized him as him. All she saw was Adrian Ivashkov a moroi that could easily snap her neck into two. He had left after five minutes. He hadn't been able to bear it, still couldn't but Jill and Eddie had gone and seen her and they had stayed for far more than five measly minutes, trying to coax her into remembrance but no matter what Sydney Sage refused to return to her old self. And now here she was dancing with scum, there was no doubt in his mind that she remembered everything now, but refused to acknowledge it. He didn't blame her, he would rather see her with Keith than see her back in that hellhole.

Soon he would get up and go back into the party as if he had never left, as if he had no idea who the girl with the lily tattoo was.

Love he thought was a cruel twisted game and he was nothing but it's mere puppet.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Okay so keeps on deleting some words from the first chapter so I'm really sorry about that and I hope it won't do it to this one. Oh and thank you so much for your reviews and subs!

She danced, she smiled, she gushed, she twirled. She hated it. Her black heels were pinching were feet. Her blue dress felt too tight around her waist and made her feel frumpy. Keith's arms were holding her arms too tightly on purpose. She just wanted to go home. No, not home, home was a place where you could relax and happy. She had never truly felt happy at home, especially not now, after what they've done. What she really wanted to do was to go back to Amberwood. Sure their lives may have been in danger but that was where she truly felt happy. But Amberwood too had been taken from her. She shuddered remembering the place they dragged her too, the place of cruelty and pain, the place that your nightmares only touch, never truly revealing it's horrors. While there she held no sense of time, everything just seemed to blur together, the needles, the blades, the windowless rooms. She felt the familiar sense of nausea that usually conpanioned the memories fill her up and willed herself to stop. She looked up and the first thing she saw was Keith's eyes. The false one looking right past her and the real one locked onto her with it's default, cool gaze. But she knew better than to believe it. She knew that behind that carefully composed look in his eye was a deep pit of hatred. She didn't care, why should she? She loathed him even more than he did her. She steadied herself and carried on dancing in his arms, his fingers burning her skin more and more as the seconds ticked on. She wanted to get away from him, she wanted her old life back. But there was no point on dwelling on hopeless wants, because from now on all she could hope for now was to not be sent back to re-education.

It wasn't until halfway through the party did she notice him. His messy, dark brown hair that seemed messier than usual, his green eyes that seemed to have lost it's sense of life. The sight nearly brought her to tears. Her eyes moved across to the girl in his arms. It was Jill. Strangely she felt no resentment towards the girl, only a longing to go and hug her. She shook her head slightly. It didn't matter if Jill and Adrian were in the the same room as her, it made no difference at the end of the day she would still be Sydney Sage, soon to be Keith Darnell's wife and a re-educated alchemist. So why did it hurt so much?

She still danced with Keith the whole time. It was obviously a test made by the alchemists, albeit a cruel one, but she was determined not to give them another excuse to ship her off again. Because she was certain that if they did then they would erase her memories of him for good and she never, ever wanted to part with them. She felt someone stand on her foot and looked up to see Keith looking at her with an annoyed expression.

"We have to go now, it's getting too late" he said, nearly snarling at her.

She nodded and followed him out. They booked into a hotel to stay for the night ,she calculated that they would only be getting six hours of sleep since their flight back home left at eight the next morning. There was only one bed in their room that was obviously made to fit two people. Sydney slept on the coach. While she laid there her thoughts kept on running back to the day where her dad had broke the remaining pieces of her old self. He had announced it to everyone at the dinner table that she was to be married to Keith. He said that Keith's good name could help her reputation. Sydney was so shocked all she could say was " but the tattoos.." her dad shrugged that off as "only an experimentation of his youth". Her mother had been outraged and yelled vicious things at him before storming off. Zoe didn't see what was wrong with it since "Keith was a good guy anyway". Sydney sat through it all with a blank expression. She stayed like that for weeks, it wasn't until Carly came back home from college that she broke. Carly had found her one night sitting next to the old, overgrown tree in the backyard. She had came soundlessly and had simply wrapped her arms around her that Sydney's endurance broke. She cried and cried in her arms for hours while Carly stroked her head. She didn't say that it would be alright because she knew it wouldn't. Carly was the only other person in the world that knew how evil Keith Darnell was. The memory had initiated something inside of her and soon the tears just kept streaming down her face. She cried for injustice inflicted upon her, she cried for the life that was cruelly taken from her, she cried for the friends she had left behind, she cried for her mother and Zoe, she cried for everything except Adrian, she would never cry for Adrian, because if he ever found out that she had it would only cause him more pain. She tried to tell herself that love was a horrible thing and that she didn't care for it, but if she didn't care then why did it cause her heart to ache so much?


	3. Chapter 3

A.N Thank so much for the reviews and alerts! I was wondering if you guys wanted me to have a song-for-every-chapter thing?

Rays of the morning light filtered through the heavy, burgundy curtains. They splattered themselves on Sydney's pale face. Groggily, she sat up and heard the strong pitter patter of a shower. She knew from experience that Keith would not leave any hot water for her, so she got dressed, thankful for his absence. She dressed in loose black jeans and a gray, short sleeved shirt. By Alchemist standards she was dressed like homeless person, but she didn't care now. She would dress the way she wanted here since the only thing that could stop her was Keith's disgusted expression. She took silent triumph over it even though if any of other alchemists came she would dress accordingly because of her fear. So when Keith walked out of the shower and didn't spare her a second glance when he saw what she wore, she felt enraged, cheated out of her small victory.

"Hurry up and go to the lobby with your luggage. They charge extra if we stay over our booked time" he said as if she was the one that just had a ridiculously long shower.

Silently she grabbed her luggage and stormed out, resisting the urge to slam the door shut, she would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her act like a child. The lobby was quite beautiful, in fact a couple of years ago she would have stared at it's golden, shimmering chandeliers, exotic flowers in every shade of each colour and delicately carved stone statues in awe. But now it didn't phase her. What was the point of beautifying something so luxuriously, when millions of people were dieing? She headed to the front desk and handed over their key.

"My friends still in there but he'll only be a few minutes" her face nearly broke into a cringe as she told the young, brunette lady behind the counter.

"Oh is he the one with black hair and the glass eye?" she asked in a goodhearted tone. Sydney nodded in response. "Oh he's cute" the lady said shooting her a knowing glance before attending to the person behind her. Sydney sat down on the plush, blue sofas while staring at the lady with astounded eyes. She began to feel sick, what kind of world did she live in that let Keith get away with everything just because he 'was cute'?

It took Keith a good ten minutes to finally arrive. By that time Sydney had already paid the lady behind the counter with the Alchemist's credit card, despite her protests, normally she would have just accepted her kindness but now that she knew the motive behind it she was determined to pay for every penny. Keith would get nothing free in life simply because of his looks if she was around. The car ride to the airport was silent, like every other car ride they shared. When they reached the airport Keith had ditched her and wandered off some where. So she sat and waited for their flight. As she looked out of windows she saw people getting soaked in the rain and quite suddenly, against her will, a memory popped up.

It was a Saturday and she had, had nothing to do. Jill had exams coming up and Eddie insisted on helping her even though Sydney was technically a better choice but Jill had told her that she would ask Sydney for help if Eddie's explanation was confusing. So that had left her with nothing to do, so she went out for a drive. She hadn't intended to be going to Adrian's apartment but somehow her little drive had ended with her in front of Adrian's front door. The door was surprisingly unlocked so she had ventured in and found him engrossed in watching America's Next Top Model.

" Who the hell would kick someone off a modeling show for having fake boobs, Sage?"

"Oh I don't know but I'm sure not going to that on my modeling show" she replied, causing Adrian's lips to quirk up into a grin.

"You're show will flop unless I'm judging"

" Don't be so full of yourself"

" I'm not, I'm just stating a fact."

Sydney rolled her eyes and sat down next to him on the green sofa.

" Why are you watching this anyway?" she inquired

" It was either this or The Real Housewives of Miami"

So they sat there watching the pretty girls on screen pose until Sydney grew restless, something quite uncommon for her.

"Lets go outside" Adrian said, as if he had just read her mind.

" Adrian, has the fact that it's raining cats and dogs outside completely escaped you?"

Adrian had taken no notice of her and had just grabbed her hand and dragged her outside. As soon as they were out of the building he let go of her hand and ran straight into the rain.

"Come on, Sage!" he yelled at her

"No!" she exclaimed "I'll get sick"

He just laughed and dragged her in completely ignoring her protests. She was placed firmly in his arms as she got soaked from head to toe and looked up to see him grinning down at her. Sydney couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. She decided to put down her defenses just for once as she ran towards a puddle and kicked at it, aiming for Adrian's face. He had just dodged out of the way in time so it only partially hit his chest. He ran after her intending to splash her back. The air was filled with both their laughs as they chased after each other. Eventually Adrian caught her in his arms, he lifted her up and twirled her around which made her laugh even harder. When she looked up she saw him smiling at her fondly, his eyes held the softest expression she had ever seen and in that moment she felt something in her chest stir and flutter.

"Oi, Sydney!" Keith yelled at her, his voice sending her headfirst into reality. " The plane is here" he hissed through clenched teeth.

Sydney nodded, her automatic cool facade presenting itself on her face. She followed Keith onto the plane, wanting to curl into a ball and cry the whole time.

It had been two whole weeks since she last saw Adrian at Lissa's birthday ball. She felt confident that she had escaped the Alchemists' cruel test and began to relax slightly. Her father had insisted her and Keith live together in an apartment by themselves so they would get used to living with each other after the wedding, her mother still hadn't spoken to him since he announced her engagement. She felt a twinge of guilt for being the reason her family was tearing apart but she pushed it aside, she had bigger problems to dwell on. Like the wedding. She was dreading it. Dreading the day that she should be eagerly anticipating. She had no idea what was going on about it because she had refused to take part in any of planning, so Zoe or perhaps some other alchemist planned it in her stead. She just hoped that on the day she would not fail to say her vows, once the vows were said there was a chance that the alchemists would stop looking at her under their giant magnascope. But she didn't want to think about that right now. Right now all she wanted to do was to forget about each and every one of her problems. She wanted a sense of normalcy in her life. So for the first time without alchemist permission she went out of their apartment to take a walk. 'They won't be able to send me away' she thought 'I've done nothing wrong'. As she walked down the street her senses seemed to be on overdrive. She noticed the tiniest flutter of autumn leaves, the strong gust of wind rolling the tiniest of pebbles. It felt amazing. For once in her life she was not Sydney Sage but just Sydney a girl taking a walk. A small smile worked it's way on her lips as she strolled down the busy street. Looking at all the different people she passed, wondering if they could feel the warm rays of sun on them as strongly as she could or if they were just accustomed to it. But of course she should have realised that her happiness would only last for so long. She stopped in her tracks and stared at the male across the street from her. He was carrying a bag of groceries and was heading for what she presumed to be his new apartment. The wind was tousling his hair ferociously and she could imagine the annoyance in his green eyes. Then his body froze as if he had realised she was there. 'No' Sydney thought 'He does realise I'm here'. She turned around abruptly and mixed into the crowd so he wouldn't notice her. When she reached her apartment she rushed in and saw Keith lounging lazily in front of the t.v watching The Real Housewives of Miami. He turned to look at her and gave her a wicked grin that chilled her to the bone. She had not escaped the alchemists' tests, they had only just begun.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Second to last chapter \o/ thanks so much for all your reviews.

Their first encounter was a mundane one. In a rather old cafe with chipped white walls and creaky floorboards, a young man was standing behind the counter, a bored expression evident on his face. His green eyes surveyed the cafe with distaste and he thought of ways he could make it look less like a prison. The cafe was an easily overlooked one, with it's moldy exterior that sent out hostile signals, it could never compete with the new, lustrous one across the road, that Adrian himself would have preferred to work there, but of course with his luck he was stuck in the creaking arms of The Duck cafe. It's usual silence left him with lots of opportunities to think, but thinking was one of the things he tried his best to avoid. He had his chance to think, to get his act together, but he blew it. Now he had to deal with the after math, after all he was no hero. He gave no thought to the orange Honda parked outside, apart from dully noting that the owner was completely mental, but when he saw the achingly familiar head of blonde his breath hitched. She walked in, her expression nonchalant and her pale hair was craftily placed to hide her tattoo. He avoided looking at her eyes, too afraid to see what expression they would be wearing, so instead he looked at her hair. It fell in symmetrical locks but upon closer inspection he noticed that she left the back untouched and he knew that something was wrong, the Sydney Sage he knew would never leave the house with a less than perfect appearance. The smell of black coffee hit him hard as she stood before him and he couldn't help but take a glimpse at her eyes. They wore no anger, wore no hate, wore no sadness. They wore nothing, and that was what scared him the most.

"Can I have one black coffee and one French Valina, please?" she asks in a soft voice that contradicts with her cold appearance. Adrian nodded cautiously before picking up a brown, paper, cup. He worked at an agonizingly slow pace, mixing and pouring everything with great care, knowing that once the cups were filled with steaming, hot, coffee she would leave and become nothing more than a a shadow of a memory. But as some poor bastard said "All good things must come to an end" and soon enough he was left with the two best coffees to ever grace existence.

"That's five dollars, please" he says, surprised at how smooth his voice sounded. Her hand brushed his on accident, or perhaps on purpose, but either way it sent a wave of longing coursing through him. Her shoulder stiffened and she hastily grabbed her coffee before muttering a quick thanks and practically running out the door. Adrian stared at the door frame, a small smile playing on his lips. There was no epic kiss or choking hug, no breathless 'I love you's", not even a tip, but it was more than what he had hoped for. It was a sign that she was still alive, still fighting, even if her choice in cars was beginning to decline.

The second of the encounters was a surprisingly innocent one. He found her sitting under a slender, willow tree. Her eyes were closed, feigning sleep but her slightly tense body frame gave her away. She was dressed in gray jeans and pale blue, long sleeved top so unlike the hard, professional get up he had seen at The Duck. He sat on the opposite side of the tree, he knew he should probably just walk away before he can cause anymore damage but it seemed that his mouth was on autopilot.

"How is Miss Sage doing?" he asks the air in a clear voice, knowing she can hear him.

Her response catches him off guard. "Miss Sage is doing perfectly well but wonders what on earth is Mr. Ivashkov doing."

"Mr. Ivashkov demands a name that doesn't make him sound eighty." he replies with ease, a hint of gratefulness seeping into his voice.

"Would Mr. Ivashkov prefer Jet?" she teases, something he thought would never happen between them again.

"Jet would be most favorable, yes" then after a moment's hesitation he asks "Why isn't Miss Sage running off for the woods?"

Minutes of silence encased them and Adrian was mentally hitting himself for ruining whatever conversation they had. "Miss Sage is tired of running." came her quiet reply.

"Will Miss Sage get into trouble if she were seen right now?"

"Yes." she says, causing him to inhale his breath sharply.

"Then Jet will leave now." he says, prying himself off the ground.

"Would Jet thank Adrian for me?" she asks just as he begins to walk away.

"For Miss Sage to give her thanks to Adrian, Adrian would have needed to do something to earn it."

"Tell him thanks for not giving up yet." she says, her voice small. "Oh and for the best coffee in existence." she adds on to lighten the atmosphere.

He nods, even though she can't see him and walks away. A small ember of hope growing in his chest.

The third was something spectacular and unthinkable. It was closing time at The Duck and Adrian was finally glad he could leave the ancient place, though lately he's been seeing it in a more positive light. After making sure he had locked the door properly he walked down the street hoping to find a convenience store, most preferably one that sold his brand of cigarettes. He walked along, feeling slightly disgusted that he only had cigarettes to look forward to, when an orange Honda caught his eye. What surprised him most of all was that Sydney walked right up to him and dragged him into the car.

"Well hey there Sage, fancy meeting you here"

"This is my car, Adrian"

"Really? I would have thought this was more of that douche's kind of style" he shoot at her, his voice dripping with acid, causing Sydney to wince.

"Look Adrian I know everything hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows for u-"

"What are you talking about? I've been having the time of my life here, working at a cafe older than Victor Dashkov's ass."

"Adrian, can we please just talk?" she pleaded.

Maybe it was because of Sydney's pleading voice, maybe it was because he realised he was being a dick, maybe it was because he wanted to talk to her but for whatever reason Adrian just nodded, his jaw set firmly. They stopped at a senile looking house with gaping holes in the roof and an overgrown garden that was more than likely to be inhabited with rats.

"So, is there any reason as to why you've led me to this beautiful mansion?"

"To talk"

"We could have talked in the car, there's plenty of conversational room in that oompa loompa"

With a sigh of exasperation, Sydney marched into the house with Adrian right on her heels. The inside of the house was horrifying and Adrian had a hard time imagining Sydney coming three feet near it let alone coming here on regular basis, which he assumes she does judging from the way she easily guides them. They come to a sitting room with dusty windows that would put The Duck to shame, there were ratty, deep blue, curtains and a plush, red, couch that had it's stuffing popping out in some places.

"Sit" Sydney motioned next to her on the hideous couch.

"I'd rather not" he replied, eying the couch with distaste causing Sydney to roll her eyes.

"I'm sorry , Adrian, I really am"

"Which part? The part where you forgot about my existence or the part where you got engaged to some douche?" his words dripped like venom and made Sydney wince in guilt, but he wasn't stopping.

"I loved you, didn't you know that? I fought day and night for you and you had the nerve to pretend you forgot me?" he yelled, his eyes beginning to prick. He knew he was being unfair and cruel but he couldn't stop. There was too much pent up anger and no outlet. "I loved you and you tossed me away like some toy" his voice beginning to choke at the end, he felt tears beginning to fall and made no effort to stop them.

" I'm so sorry, Adrian, I would do anything to go back in time and stop it all from happening. To stop myself from being sent to Palm Springs" she replied, her voice sounded clogged up and tears began to fill her hazel eyes.

Her reply only made him feel more angry, he wanted her to yell at him, to tell him he was being selfish, to tell him she hated him.

"Don't" he says his voice cracking. "This isn't your fault. Don't take my blame when you obviously don't deserve it."

"If I don't deserve it then why did it have to be said?" she whispered. He looked at her eyes and saw something that enraged him more. Guilt.

" Sage, I say a lot of bullshit but I thought you had more sense than to eat it all up"

"Don't you get it? I'm the one that ruined your, Jill's and Eddie's lives! I'm the one that selfishly cut all ties with you!" she screeched, letting her tears flow free.

Her tears were like arrows thrown straight to his heart. With everyone that escaped her eyes his guilt grew to the point it became unbearable. So without even a slight hesitation he crushed her to him. His arms tightening around her as if he was trying to protect her. He kissed her forehead softly and stroked the back of her head.

"I'm sorry for being such a dick, Sage"

"I deserved it."

"No you didn't. You've been through way too much for people to have the right to criticize you, least of all me"

They stayed there locked in embrace, each trying to comfort the other despite their own need to comfort. When the tears had stopped and their breath's returned to the natural beat Sydney looked up at Adrian's face and leaned in ever so slowly. Their lips met in a cautious kiss, softly moving against each other, afraid that the other may break before deepening to make up for all those absent years. When they drew back, both out of breath, Adrian let out a careful grin. Sydney, on the other hand looked more tired than ever.

"It's next week, our wedding' she said in a low voice. "You're engaged to Jill now and poor Eddie doesn't have anyone s-"

"We could work this out, Sage" he whispered, desperation clearly strung through his voice.

"No, we can't" she says, smiling bitterly "In the end, Adrian, all we are, are puppets."


End file.
